


Forbidden Communications

by commander_hot_pants



Series: Allison Shepard [6]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 12:38:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12817692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/commander_hot_pants/pseuds/commander_hot_pants
Summary: “So, is he your boyfriend or..?”Shepard had never mentioned a partner, not to James at least. But when a message manages to sneak to her while incarcerated James gets to see a different side of his hero.





	Forbidden Communications

“This,” Anderson said holding up a datapad, “contains an extremely sensitive email sent to Commander Shepard through highly encrypted channels. It’s a very intelligent email, sent by someone familiar with not only the Alliance channels, but also the channels that would specifically take it directly to Shepard.” 

He offered the pad out and James took it, “Alright.”

“As part of Shepard’s incarceration,” he continued, “she has been banned from external communication of any type. So although the email is of a personal nature, it has been wiped from the system as if it was never sent. This data pad contains the only copy of the email now in existence.” James peeked at the datapad and frowned. “That datapad is not connected to any network, internal or otherwise. It is as close to a paper copy we can get without requisitioning actual paper. It is essential that this email never reach Shepard.”

“Sir, if the email is so dangerous, why make a copy?” Anderson quirked one eyebrow at him.

“Good question.” He leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms behind his head. “It should be destroyed before Shepard has the chance to access it.” James held the datapad back out towards Anderson. He glanced at the device, then out the window and swiveled his chair to better admire the Vancouver view. When several seconds passed and Anderson did not reach out, James’ confusion deepened.

“Sir, the datapad?”

“What about it?” Anderson didn’t look away from the window.

“Arent you going to destroy it?”

“Of course.” Still Anderson did not move. “Did you know that’s the nineteenth email we’ve intercepted from that sender? Its not just identical attempts either, each attempt is manual, unique, and clever.”

“Sir?”

Anderson looked at him, laughed under his breath and stood from his chair, “The sender is getting desperate.”

James glanced around Anderson’s office. The Admiral had moved into the office shortly before Shepard was brought in. It was sparsely decorated, a few photos, a single plant, and some medals still in boxes, piled on a shelf collecting dust. It didn’t feel like the kind of office Anderson planned to stay in.

And maybe he hadn’t, but James suspected he wanted to stay close to Shepard. She’d been brought in on some of the worst charges that could be brought down on a person, she was being kept in an isolated room of the highest security. No communication with the outside world at all, James had been her only steady interaction.

“Sir, I don’t understand. Why are you telling me all this, shouldn’t you just destroy the email?”

“I am going to destroy the email. I just wanted you to understand that under absolutely no circumstances,” He tented his fingers on the desk and leaned forward, “should Shepard see this email.” Andersons face gave nothing away. “I’m going to destroy this email, just as my superiors would demand.” He put two fingers on the top edge of the datapad and gently pushed it towards James, “But not right now. I’ll need you to hang on to it until I have a chance to destroy it.”

“Oh, alright. Yes, Sir.” It was like having a conversation with a Hannar. James understood all the words being said but it was like he was missing the vital context required to translate it. He couldn’t get past the feeling that him and Anderson were exchanging sentences in two completely different conversations.

“Thank you, Lieutenant.” He straightened up, tugged his uniform lapel into place and caught his hands behind his back in what James thought he recognized as parade rest. “With that out of the way, I believe its time for your morning check in with Shepard, isn’t it?”

It was.

He looked back at the datapad.

“Oh.” It clicked. “An email of personal nature you said.”

“Yes.” Anderson nodded and finally smiled. “Personal nature, but Shepard cannot be allowed to read it.”

“Right.” James clipped the datapad onto his belt. “I will not allow Shepard to read this personal email.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant. Now then,” Anderson sat back down in his chair, “please return to me after your scheduled check in with Shepard. Perhaps by then I’ll have time to destroy the email.” James fired off a crisp salute straight from the Alliance handbook and spun on one heel.

The halls were nearly empty at this hour, the morning sun having just peaked over the horizon. It was barely past 0530 but within the hour the facility would be a buzz with activity. As James entered the elevator, alone, and began to ascend to Shepard’s floor curiosity got the better of him.

He unlatched the datapad and turned it on. There wasn’t even a lock code, it opened straight to the message.

_Shepard,_

_In blue on Palavan. I smell smoke. Love birds come in pairs, there are none here. I’m waiting._

_-GV_

“I smell smoke?” James repeated out loud. It didn’t seem like a message of personal nature, but then again, it didn’t really seem like a message of any nature. Just statements with no correlation.

But if Anderson thought this was a message Shepard should see—He trusted Andersons judgement.

He swung by the canteen, to pick up a coffee and muffin on the way. He’d been doing this job for four months now and though it wasn’t particularly exciting he felt it was important. Shepard had always been a hero of his, the first month had been difficult for him to contain his excitement at working with her. If the Alliance needed him to work as her liaison, he would gladly do it.

She’d been alerted to his approach before he was close enough to hit the chime and by the time he was at the door she’d approved his entry.

Shepard was glistening from sweat, her hair tucked back into a less than neat ponytail. The Alliance hadn’t provided her with any workout equipment but she was clearly managing without just fine. From the waist down she was fully dressed including her combat boots and utility belt, but above that she only had on a sports bra. Disheveled post-workout Shepard had become part of business for him, it was normal to see his hero exhausted.

“Morning, James.” She grabbed a long drink of water and grabbed a hand towel from the bed. Scrubbing it over her hair, the elastic flying across the room in protest. Shepard on the recruiting posters had always had long hair but since being signed this position she’d had it barely to her shoulders. She sat down and sighed. “What’s happening today?”

“No messages,” He offered the coffee and she took it with great relief, “nothing on the schedule, just came by to check on you.”

“No new game biscuits?”  He shook his head and she took a bite of the muffin, “Forget your other orders, your objective is to get me some fresh entertainment.”

“I don’t think you’re allowed to give me orders, Commander.” The glare she sent him made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up like a recruit staring down their DI. “I’ll see what I can do.” She smiled and took another bite of muffin.

“So,” He sat beside her, bed groaning under his weight, “listen I have…” She stopped chewing and began watching him very intently. He put the datapad down on the bed between them, “This datapad has to be destroyed.” She raised one eyebrow very slowly.

“Sounds like you should destroy it, then.”

“No! No no, not like…” He pressed his lips together and thought.

“You want me to destroy it?” She asked, “I have a lot of pent up anger, I could use the stress relief if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“No.” He turned the data pad on and spun it to face her. “It contains a personal email meant for you, but you’re not allowed to read it.” Her eyebrows furrowed, then suddenly lit up.

“Oh,” She glanced at it quickly then back up to him, “You should look away then, while I don’t read it.”

“Yeah.” He turned his body fully away from her, stared at the blank wall across from him and felt the datapad slide out from under his fingers. A moment later James Vega heard the sound he least expected.

A sob.

His head whipped back to Shepard- He didn’t intend it to, it just happened. She was holding the datapad with both hands, grip so tight her knuckles were growing white. Her muffin had fallen to the bed, and James was glad her coffee hadn’t suffered the same fate.

He could see Shepard’s eyes running over the message again and again, reading and re-reading it like it contained the meaning of life and existence itself. She wasn’t crying, but had she not been flushed from a workout not minutes ago James might have suspected she was about to.

She turned the pad over and pressed it screen down into the bed. She took a deep breath then another, reached to her eyes with the towel and defiantly did not wipe away any tears.

“Shepard…?”

“Its nothing.” It was the voice she was famous for, the one that made him want to jump into pristine salute and await orders. He didn’t, but it was a close call. James slid the datapad away, her fingers pressing down hard enough to make it a challenge. He clipped it onto his belt and watched her carefully reconstruct Commander Shepard.

“If I were to receive an email from GV, I would appreciate it acknowledged.” She said after a moment, “Even if I never read the email.”

“Right, yeah, I’ll-“ She was smiling in a way he’d never seen form her before, it wasn’t the fierce smile of a battle like he’d seen on the vids, or the tight smile when he brought her to psych appointments, it was wide and it reached her eyes. James was suddenly aware of how incredibly green Shepards eyes were. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you.” She did something else unexpected then. She touched him.

Her hands wrapped around his upper arm and she pulled him close, resting her forehead against his shoulder. They’d never intentionally touched before, except for a handshake at first meeting, and she’d never seemed the type to touch affectionately.

Shepard was hard to read, but he was sure by now she considered him a friend. She’d warmed up to him, they joked, and relaxed in each other’s presence. If Shepard had been his type—hell, if he had a type at all—he might have even developed a crush.

He lifted his arm and to his pleasant surprize she tucked herself under it. Shepard wasn’t a small women, at 178 cm with a fighters build she didn’t ‘tuck’ many places, but James was instantly satisfied with how well she fit against him.

Minutes later, with a sigh she detangled herself from him and stretched.

“You alright?” He asked as she cracked her neck from side to side.

“Fine, James, thank you.” She hopped to her feet and stretched one leg behind her back, “If you’ll excuse me though, I have another rep.”

“Yeah, sure.” They shared another smile and with the datapad safely on his belt James excused himself.

After James had left and the door had locked, Shepard flung herself onto the bed. She gathered the blankets in her arms and took several calming breaths to still her still excited heart.

_In blue on Palavan._

I’m safe and I’m with my family on Palaven,

_I smell smoke._

I’m lighting fires under asses and I think it’s starting to catch.

_Love birds come in pairs, there are none here._

I miss you. I care about you.

_I’m waiting._

So was she.

“So, is GV your boyfriend or..?” James asked the next evening when he brought her a meal and, thankfully, a new game biscuit. Shepard paused with a piece of sushi half to her lips.

“No,” Shepard finally said stuffing the sushi into her mouth, “more of a... companion.” James raised an eyebrow.

“Whats the difference?”

She smirked at him, “The entire world.” It had been clear to Shepard fairly early on that James wasn’t romantically interested in anyone really, despite being a shameless flirt. So when his expression settled into vague confusion overlaid with intense interest in his soup she added, “When the chips are down, when I’m lonelier then I ever thought possible, he’s the thought that keeps me going.”  At that James smiled.

“You love him.” She’d never really associated that word with what she had with Garrus. The two of them were close, sure, but they’d always been close. Even since their first meeting there was an unexplainable something that drew the two of them together.

It hit her very suddenly, that she actually did love Garrus, that it wasn’t just a brief fling or an every now and then sort of deal. They weren’t just two friends blowing off steam they were an actual couple who’d fallen in love, accidently or not.

And she’d never told him that.

“Yeah,” She nodded after a long silence, “Yeah I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading <3 I eventually want to make a series out of this, with various Normandy crew finding out about Shepard and Garrus but for now its just a one shot.
> 
> If you like what you read please leave a comment down below and feel free to check out my tumblr, Commander-Hot-Pants, for more Shakarian content. ^_^


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